Tracy LeSure

Athlete, Basketball, 1976-1978

Tracy LeSure

Athlete, Basketball, 1976-1978

There is an old adage in sports that says ‘defense wins championships.’ Over the years, many of Waubonsee’s athletic teams have proven that philosophy to be true. As a matter of fact, the Chiefs’, men’s basketball team won the Skyway Conference title in both 1977 and 1978 in large part because they had a defensive stopper. His name was Tracy LeSure.

LeSure graduated in 1976 from Aurora East High School, where he was an All-Upstate Eight Conference performer his senior year for the Tomcats. Waubonsee coaches Ray Lumpp and Grayal Gilkey recognized LeSure’s defensive prowess and assigned him to guard the opposing team’s best scorer, game in and game out. Even when there was a size mismatch in the opponent’s favor, it often did not matter. For instance, just after Harper College’s 6’5” star player set a record with 44 points the previous game, the 6’0” LeSure held him to just six when they played Waubonsee.

Subsequently, LeSure was named All-Skyway both years at Waubonsee. He also led the Chiefs in assists and finished third in the conference in that category. Despite focusing most of his energy on the defensive end of the floor, he did manage to score a career high of 32 points in one game. “The next day in practice, Coach Ray reminded me that we had other guys on the team to shoot the ball,” LeSure recalls, chuckling.